Nov. 29, 2012

Homes on Barnegat Bay such as these in Mantoloking were still flooded days after the storm. / Tim Larsen/Office of the Governor

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@dracioppi

Nearly all of Bay Head was flooded by Sandy, damaging many homes, as seen in this photo taken during Gov. Chris Christie's tour of the town. / Office of the Governor

HELPING OUT

The Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, launched by Gov. Chris Christie and his wife to help victims of Sandy, has raised $18.2 million in its first 24 days. The governor says more than 9,000 people and corporations have donated so far. The website is: sandynjrelieffund.org. Source: Associated PressThe Union Beach Disaster Relief Fund has been established. Checks can be mailed to Borough Hall, 650 Poole Ave. in Union Beach, NJ 07735, to the care of the borough clerk.

Elizabeth Spillane looks out from what used to be the living room of her home in the Holgate section of Long Beach Township. / MARK R. SULLIVAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A car is wedged under a house and buried in sand in the Holgate section of Long Beach Township after superstorm Sandy. / ROBERT WARD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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A month has passed since superstorm Sandy clobbered New Jersey and forever changed the Jersey Shore. In a few hellish hours overnight from Oct. 29 to 30, the storm cracked the hard shell of New Jerseyans from Hoboken to Atlantic City and tore the heart out of the tourist-dependent Jersey Shore.

Homes were ground into splinters of wood and memories. Streets turned into streams. Waterfront towns such as Sea Bright, Union Beach and Mantoloking were decimated and left unrecognizable. Icons were mangled, then tossed aside. Thousands of lives were fractured. Thirty-nine were lost.

The road map back is strewn with question marks, and it will be a long, hard trip. On Wednesday, Gov. Chris Christie upped his request for federal aid for storm damage to $36.8 billion, from $29.4 billion, while appointing former executive assistant attorney general Marc Ferzan his “storm czar” to oversee rebuilding. The priority is the Shore, Christie said.

“It’s $38 billion of economic power to the state of New Jersey,” Christie said in news conference, “and I’ve got to protect the Jersey Shore.”

On Wednesday, $8.3 million in federal money was earmarked for four New Jersey towns — including Keansburg, Little Silver and Manalapan — to help pay for cleanup. Little Silver also allocated $1.6 million of its own money to support cleanup efforts. Point Pleasant Beach has approved two emergency appropriations totaling $1.7 million to help pay for Sandy-related costs, including overtime, sand removal and the replacement of two flooded police vehicles, borough administrator Christine Riehl said.

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Promise to rebuild

The physical work to get the Shore back to a familiar place has in many instances been a round-the-clock effort since the floodwaters receded. The promise has been to rebuild, despite renewed questions on the prudence of beachfront living.

But even as officials look to bring the Shore back, the sheer toll of what was lost — and what still needs to be done — is staggering.

For Sandy’s destruction is marked not just by maps, but by the damage she wrought, town by town. And in too many cases, the towns are still reeling — but determined to move forward

In Seaside Heights, Sandy tore through the resort town’s iconic boardwalk. The storm flooded and, in many cases, destroyed homes; at least 10 have been deemed unsafe and more home inspections are under way, Mayor Bill Akers said. The borough’s famous Casino Pier, where a roller coaster was ripped away and left sitting in the ocean, is under evaluation.

The boardwalk, from the top boards to the pilings and nearly everything atop it — benches, fencing, plumbing and entrance and exit ramps — must be replaced, Akers said. Debris removal and total replacement could cost $10 to $14 million, he said. He hopes to get work started in January to have the boardwalk back by Memorial Day.

“There’s a lot to be done. I’m not minimizing it. We're going to be on a tight timeline,” Akers said.

In Mantoloking, Sandy washed away or destroyed 60 homes, and 80 percent of the town is unlivable, Lt. John Barcus said.

The peninsula town is “one big construction site right now,” he said.

During Sandy’s height, water and wind opened an inlet at the base of the Mantoloking Bridge that connected the ocean to Barnegat Bay. The force washed away the base of the bridge and the large homes nearby. Sand lots have taken the place of those homes. Town Hall, which was heavily damaged, has been relocated to Drum Point Road in Brick, Barcus said.

Mayor George C. Nebel said it would take years to rebuild the town.

Next door, in Bay Head, the storm surge and swollen Twilight Lake flooded most of the town. Of about 1,000 homes, 57 are condemned, Mayor William Curtis said. One house completely washed away, he said.

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A month later, about 75 percent of the borough’s 1,200 year-round residents have returned. Street cleaning continues, and mounds of sandy debris have to be sifted, Curtis said.

“This is going to be months of work,” he said. “It’s not going to be done easy.”

In Point Pleasant Beach, the storm broke up the boardwalk in large sections, leaving about half of it in need of major repairs or replacement, borough engineer Raymond Savacool said. The cost to restore the boardwalk is yet to be determined, but Riehl, the borough’s administrator, said it could range from $1.2 million to $4 million.

Point Pleasant Beach officials plan to ease restoration efforts for homeowners impacted by Sandy by allowing them to expedite zoning and building approvals, depending on the extent of the work to be done.

At least 110 homes in Brick were destroyed on the town’s portion of the barrier peninsula, as were utilities. Crews have been working to restore gas, electric and sewer service to the island, which would be the first step to re-entry for residents. Mayor Stephen Acropolis anticipates that to happen as early as the end of December.

He is optimistic to have Brick Beach Nos. 1 and 3 ready for the summer season.

“If it was a nice day there would be people on them now,” Acropolis said.

Looking to summer

For the fatigued residents of New Jersey and beyond, laying out a towel on the sand may be a distant memory and, for the future, an out-of-reach mirage. But for merchants, there is no other option. Gov. Christie acknowledged on Wednesday that business may not be back to full strength next summer. On Long Beach Island, they are planning to get close.

“Our estimates, based on what LBI region businesses are telling us, (are) to be 80 to 90 percent up and running by the summer,” said Lori A. Pepenella, destination marketing director for the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce. “We are staying in close contact with our members and businesses in our area to monitor recovery for our 2013 season. Many businesses have already reopened.”

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Up north, in Monmouth County, officials there too are tallying the damage, even as they look toward the summer.

Sea Bright, a narrow sandbar of a town sitting between the ocean and the Shrewsbury River, now has wreckage lining the streets and its prized beach clubs are wooden frames, if they are still there at all. Sea Bright Rising, a nonprofit started after the storm, is dedicated to the rebuilding of the town.

Mayor Dina Long said the borough's debris removal is in progress and the 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew is still in effect. The borough is looking forward to businesses reopening as early as next week, including Ama Ristorante.

Bradley Beach suffered about $5 million in damage from the storm, Police Chief Len Guida said. Dunes located along the bulkhead “did their job,” he said, sparing the town the kind of damage its neighbors in Avon and the Ocean Grove section of Neptune suffered.

The chief said borough engineers are reviewing beachfront buildings to determine whether they can be repaired or if they need to be razed.

In Union Beach, 132 homes were either cut in half or knocked off their foundations; another 510 homes had three or more feet of water, meeting FEMA’s criteria for “substantially damaged,” according to borough construction code official Bobby Burlew.

Borough officials are waiting for FEMA to rule whether certain residents will need to rebuild their homes higher off the ground, Cocuzza said. Meanwhile, officials are ensuring homes get necessary electrical inspections.

Keansburg intends to rebuild its destroyed police department, but “putting the money up for a new one is going to be a problem,” said Mayor George Hoff. Meanwhile, police are working out of the United Methodist Church on Church Street.

Hoff said borough officials took every precaution they could to prepare for Sandy. He said if the dune system is built back up properly, that will be the town’s protection for the next possible storm.

In Highlands, the borough hall and the police department were also destroyed, said Council President Rebecca Kane.. Modular trailers are being set up in the municipal lots on Shore Drive for temporary locations. The curfew is lifted, but the state of emergency has stayed in effect due to large piles of debris.

Kane said the borough was extremely prepared for the storm, and officials will meet and critique their precautions once the state of emergency is lifted.

“For the resources we had, we really did a phenomenal job,” Kane said.